1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a finger temperature detecting device with relaxation indication. In particular, the present invention relates to a finger temperature detecting device providing an index to relaxation of the wearer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern people are facing much more stress than ever due to rapid economic development. Psychiatric problems, such as insomnia, neuroses, psychoses, and psychosomatic disorders (including migraine, peptic ulcer, tension headache, etc.) become more and more common among people. According to statistic data, there are about 5 to 15 percents of adults suffering from such problems.
The physical body and the mind of the human are interactive; namely, physical diseases may cause mental disorders, and mental discomfort may have adverse influence on physical health. Physical and/or mental disorder may develop when one is encountering unbearable stress. This is because muscular tension and/or dysfunction of the nervous systems, immune systems, and hormone systems may be caused via the effect of neurological pathways when the brain senses the unbearable stress.
The symptoms of anxiety caused by autonomic nervous system dysfunction may be palpitation, dyspnea, chest tightness, dizziness, headache, dry mouth, gastrointestinal upset, diarrhea, constipation, polyuria, sweating, tremor, cold extremities, etc. Among these, cold limbs are due to vasoconstriction caused by excessive sympathetic tone. And clinically finger temperature has been used as a general sensitive index to monitor one's sympathetic tone and to see if one is relaxed or not. More specifically, if one is relaxed, his or her arteriolae will be dilated and his or her surface of fingers will be warmer, as more heat is transmitted to the skin. On the other hand, if one is anxious and tense, the arteriolae will be constricted and his or her surface of fingers will be cooler, as less heat is transmitted to the skin.
In clinical practice, a medical doctor may instruct a patient how to do muscle relaxation with the help of a biofeedback machine. The temperature biofeedback machine includes a sensor in contact with a patient's skin to detect the surface temperature. The measured temperature values are converted into electronic signals that are then presented on a monitor to tell the patient if he or she is in a relaxed condition. By this way, medical doctors can confirm that their patients are practicing muscle relaxation in the right way. In the past, the sensor of the biofeedback machine is fixed by a tape or a strap to the finger, which may cause local compression to the finger and thus interfere with the circulation. So the temperature readings may be diverted and the results unreliable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,766 discloses a finger temperature indicating ring that can be put on a finger of the wearer at any time to serve as an auxiliary medical instrument to effectively sense and indicate the wearer's finger temperature which reflects a physical and/or mental relaxing condition of the wearer, so as to help the wearer, either a physchiatric patient or a general user, to timely control or adjust his or her emotional condition. The finger temperature indicating ring includes a ring body having two channels, a thermal conductive rod buried in one of the channels, and a discharge rod buried in the other channel. The finger temperature indicating ring worn on the wearer's finger may slide and thus result in unstable examination, as the wearer could not adjust the tightness of the finger temperature indicating ring. Further, the thermal conductive rod and the discharge rod respectively buried in the channels may cause erroneous examination, as the heat at the survey area of the finger could not be effectively dissipated even though the finger temperature drops.